In recent weeks, Russia has managed to capture several villages west of Avdijivka.
Russian forces have continued to advance in the Donetsk region since taking control of the ruined city of Avdijivka last week. The reason for the faster progress than before is not only Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition and the wavering support of the West, but the “surprisingly weak” level of Ukraine’s defense, says the newspaper The New York Times.
NYT has studied recent satellite images, according to which the Ukrainian defense fortifications located west of Avdijivka are very rudimentary. According to the newspaper, they lack the necessary reinforcements to slow down the Russian tanks.
After the conquest of Avdijivka, the Russians have managed to capture at least three small villages on the west side of the town.
According to a recent intelligence report by the British Ministry of Defence, the Russians have advanced approximately six kilometers west of the center of Avdijivka in the past two weeks, which is an exceptionally fast pace.
US officials this week expressed concern about the weakness of Ukraine’s defenses in the region. According to NYT, the rudimentary nature of the fortresses can be seen especially when compared to the defense fortresses built by Russia in the occupied territories, which stopped the Ukrainian counterattack last summer.
Although Ukraine would have had plenty of time to strengthen its defenses in the region, last year it focused its resources on a counteroffensive.
– Who would have thought of building expensive defense lines then? Nobody, says the expert interviewed by NYT, a colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (evp) Serhii Hrabskyi.
According to the US authorities, the construction of strong defense lines on the front line would have meant that Ukraine would have practically admitted that it had permanently lost the territories occupied by Russia.
Because of this, the strengthening of Ukrainian defense lines in the Donetsk region has only started in recent months. Finnish analyst interviewed by NYT Pasi Paroinen says that the defense lines around Avdijivka have not been significantly strengthened, although the president Volodymyr Zelenskyi last November vowed that would happen.
The slowness of strengthening the defense lines is explained by the fact that Ukraine suffers from a shortage of manpower and supplies. The danger now is that Ukraine will have to build its fortresses at the same time as Russia attacks them.